AV Fest 2000 - Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia

The Star, Malaysia's leading daily English language
newspaper, will hold the 5th AV Fest hi-fi, home
theatre and music instruments exhibition at the
Crown-Princess Hotel in Kuala Lumpur on August 4, 5
and 6.

AV Fest 2000 promises to be as big as the previous
four shows. In 1996, the show drew about 7,400
visitors. The 1997 show drew about 50 exhibitors and
over 9,000 visitors over the three days. While the
1998 show, despite the economic downturn that affected
the region, attracted 53 exhibitors and 7,500
visitors. The 1999 show attracted 53 exhibitors and
7,017 visitors.

As in the past four shows, coverage of the event (and
publicity run-in) will be through The Star's hi-fi and
home theatre weekly pullout, AudioFile.

A short history
AV Fest caters to the audio/video/music enthusiast and
those with a general interest in AV and musical
instruments. The objective of the event is, of course,
to advance the cause of both consumer and vendor. For
the consumer, the show represents a chance to catch
everything under one roof _ the latest products, an
awareness of marques and their available
representation. For the distributor, it is an
excellent platform to promote his/her represented
brand/s and obtain potential new consumers.

Previous AV Fests have seen some products making their
Asian, and even world, debut.

A big part of the driving force behind the Fest is the
fact that all proceeds from the gate are given to
charity.

Last year, being the International Year of Older
Persons, the total proceeds of RM70,170 (US$18,466)
was divided among three homes for the aged _ the
Silver Jubilee Home for the Aged, Selangor King George
V Silver Jubilee Home, and the Little Sisters of the
Poor.

We have had some notable visitors in the past. AV Fest
'96 had Peter Qvortrup of Audio Note, Philip Swift of
Audiolab, Ben Gosvig of Englightened Audio Designs,
Hi-Fi World editor Noel Keywood and renowned British
hi-fi writer Alvin Gold, who is also a columnist with
AudioFile.

The 1997 event saw Noel Keywood again, as well as
Robert Lamarre of RL Acoustics, Allen Wright (author
of The Preamp Cookbook) and Peter Holstein and Jakob
Magnussen of Holfi, while 1998 had Allen Wright again,
Robert Suchy of Clearaudio Electronic, Dr Riccardo
Kron of KR Enterprise, and Peter Qvortrup of Audio
Note.

Last year, being more low-key, saw Peter Qvortrup of
Audio Note and Torben Dahl of Avance making a visit.

Background info
The Star currently has a readership of 993,000, while
the Sunday Star has a readership of 939,000.
The online version of our newspaper, The Star Online,
is a mirror of our print publication, with regard to
all local news and features; the site registered more
than 95 million hits (14.5 million page views) in
February 2000.

The AudioFile website is part of The Star Online, and
is a complete mirror of the print version in terms of
content, and registered in excess of 39,000 page views
in February 2000. Our website can be found at
thestar.com.my/audio/